30.11.2016Poster at Main Station calls for EU and Switzerland to impose sanctions on Israel

A political poster currently on display at Zurich Main Station is calling for the European Union and Switzerland to impose sanctions on Israel as a result of the latter’s policies towards Palestinians.

It is difficult not to notice the poster which shows a woman, supposedly embodying the European Union (and Switzerland) kneeling and licking the bare feet of what is clearly a depiction of the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The poster has been placed there by the Aktion-Palästina Solidarität organisation, which wants to highlight how the EU and Switzerland are currently kowtowing to Israel despite its policies of “land-grabbing, expulsion and apartheid,” with a grinning Netanyahu admitting, in this speech bubble, he is “breaking international law” in doing so. The poster infers he is aware that Europe (and Switzerland) are, albeit with a bad conscience, turning a blind eye to Israel with regard to these policies.

Claudio Schmid, a cantonal parliamentarian of the SVP party of Bülach, has uploaded photographs of the poster on his Twitter and Facebook accounts claiming it is anti-Semitic. Indeed, as this article in the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper says, the poster is likely to be regarded as appalling by the Jewish community.

Daniele Pallecchi, the spokesman for the SBB, said that, of course the company was aware of the poster and its content but said it was not entitled to exert any censorship and referred to a ruling by the Swiss Federal Court in a similar case in 2012 when it declared that stations were public places, hence those behind the poster should enjoy their right to freedom of expression in this way. In other words, the SBB has its hands tied.